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Guelph Youth Singers
GYS Vision StatementBuilding choral excellence in our community. GYS Mission StatementTo develop the artistic soul and musical skills of children and youth through exposure to professional instructors, and diverse repertoire and performance experiences; to instill in young singers a love of choral music, and a joy for singing and performing together; and to provide the general public with enjoyable choral performances of the highest standards.
A Brief History of GYSGuelph Youth Singers (GYS) was formed in 1991 as a joint project of the Guelph Arts Council and the Guelph Chamber Music Society to provide the children of Guelph with the opportunity to develop musical and choral excellence to the best of their ability. Through weekly sight singing instruction using peer mentors for teaching and testing, progressive theory instruction involving five levels of theory paralleled by a system of flashcards, and individual vocal coaching, the choristers in GYS experience a truly professional level of musicianship under the guidance of Linda Beaupré. Ms Beaupré has been the artistic director and conductor of Guelph Youth Singers since its inception. The choir is organized into age and capability-appropriate groups so that each chorister is given the opportunity to improve their musical and singing skills within a group of peers that match their skill and age.· Choir I is a training choir for children aged 6 and up.· Choir II is a more advanced teaching choir for children 9 and up.· Choir III is a choir of superior singing and musical ability for children aged 11 and up.· Choir III also encompasses a Chamber Choir that is comprised of singers aged 14 and up, who are selected for their superior sight-reading and singing skills, and perform challenging repertoire appropriate to their level.· Drawing from all choirs, a seasonal Boys Choir was developed in 2005 to compete in the Guelph Kiwanis Festival, to sing a feature piece in the major spring concert, and, more generally, to encourage the boys to appreciate their special part in the overall choir. GYS has released three solo CDs: Bird in the Nest (1998), Wind in Our Sails (2002) and Into the Breeze released on October 30, 2010 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Guelph Youth Singers. GYS has also performed on CDs with Guelph Chamber Choir (On Christmas Night, 1995); for the Canadian Literacy Association (Notable Canadian Choirs Sing Christmas Carols, 1996); with the Guelph folk ensemble, Tamarack (Blankets of Snow, 1998); and singing the title song on the CD Song of Our City: A Musical Celebration of Guelph. All choirs of GYS perform annually in the Guelph Kiwanis Festival and have distinguished themselves at the Provincial and National levels of the National Festival Association Competition, winning provincial awards in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 (2nd place),2007 (1st place),2008(1st place), 2009(1st place) and, 2010 (1st place). GYS won national first prize awards in 1999, 2001, 2009 and 2010 and 2nd prize awards in 2007 & 2008. In 2011, Choir III won first at the provincials. GYS has been named by Kiwanis the “best choral program overall” every year since 1996!GYS choirs also won separate awards at the 2006 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Kiwanis Festivals. The GYS Board of Directors believes it is important to instill a sense of community in our choristers and teach them the importance of giving back to their community by sharing their talents with those who otherwise would not have the opportunity to enjoy their performances. As an annual winter tradition, all GYS choirs sing carols at seniors’ residences in Guelph. In the current season, all of the GYS choirs will again join local choirs in a GYS-sponsored school/community choral event, “When Children Sing.” Linda Beaupré will provide one or two half hour workshops at each school or community choir, teaching children from school & community choirs and music classes. On Feb. 16, each school/community choir and GYS choirs will perform solo pieces and massed choir pieces in an evening concert for family and friends. The proceeds of the concert will be donated to the Guelph Youth Music Centre’s bursary fund. In April 2012, GYS III choristers also look forward to performing with guest choristers from Les Chanteurs d’Acadie in a planned benefit concert for a local or national charity. These performances not only benefit local and worldwide communities and causes, but also have been beneficial to GYS choristers, and increased awareness of our outstanding choirs. Each year the choir attempts to provide every child in grades 1 to 6 in Wellington County with a flyer telling them about GYS and how they can join or obtain more information about the Choir. Children who audition for Guelph Youth Singers, but are not accepted into the choir due to remedial vocal problems, are encouraged to pursue a place in the community choir programme offered by the Guelph Youth Music Centre. GYS tours regularly throughout the province, Canada, and into the northern United States. Past performance highlights include singing for national conventions of the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors in Quebec City and Toronto, as well as the American Choral Directors Association in Chicago. GYS has also performed in Montreal, Kingston, New York, British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia. Other choirs that GYS has performed with have come from Quebec, British Columbia, New York, Alberta, Japan, Slovenia and, of course, Southern Ontario. In May of 2008, Choir III/Chamber choristers were invited to form part of the honour choir, along with choristers from Bach Children’s Chorus, for the “Children in Harmony Festival” at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. As Honour Choir, the combined tour choir had the opportunity to perform for all the other participating choirs of the festival, and in two other public concerts at Disney World. Plans are underway this season for a SEVEC sponsored exchange with Les Jeunes Chanteurs d’Acadie. GYS choristers form life-long friendships and gain invaluable experience from these joint events. Continuing with this tradition in the 2011-2012 season, GYS choristers will take part in youth music festivals in Stratford and Toronto which will include workshops with a guest clinician, and a mass performance with up to nine other children’s choirs. In February 2012, the choir is privileged to be able to participate in a joint concert with the Suzuki String School of Guelph, scheduled to be performed at Reid Hall in the Village of the Arboretum in Guelph. Auditions are held in the spring and late summer for entrance into the choir in September 2011. Limited audition appointments are also available in November for children and youth who are seeking to enter GYS in January 2012. For more information on Guelph Youth Singers and to book an audition appointment, phone 821-8574.
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